Modi to lead unique Yoga session at UNHQ on Wednesday

June 21, 2023 00:41

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a unique yoga session on Wednesday in a historic celebration to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga at the UN Headquarters here that will see participation from top UN officials, envoys from across and the world and prominent individuals.

Modi will be in New York on the first leg of his US visit at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

Nine years after Prime Minister Modi first proposed from the United Nations General Assembly podium to mark International Yoga Day as an annual commemoration, the Indian leader will for the first time be at the UN Headquarters to lead the yoga session in a historic commemoration of the day.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj told PTI in an interview that the yoga celebration this year will be a very unique occasion because it was Prime Minister Modi who had given this vision and it was his leadership that ensured that June 21 every year is celebrated as International Yoga Day.

"So about nine years later, the author of that vision comes to the United Nations, she said, adding that now Yoga Day is a UN-mandated occasion. "So the coming together of the two- the visionary leader and the United Nations, I think, is in itself very unique, Kamboj said.

She said that the yoga event is generating a lot of anticipation and excitement and is very heavily subscribed. "The international element is very high. There's a lot of interest, which is in itself, I would say, a sort of attribute to yoga, this ancient Indian practice, the fact that it has transcended all borders and it has become a global phenomenon.

Kamboj added that the fact that there will be children performing yoga onstage is very unique. So altogether I think it is going to be quite a one of its kind event.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his message for Yoga Day, said yoga unites. "It unites body and mind, humanity and nature and millions of people across the globe for whom it is a source of strength, harmony and peace," he said.

"In a dangerous and divided world, the benefits of this ancient practice are particularly precious. Yoga offers a haven of calm, it can reduce anxiety and promote mental well-being. It helps us to develop discipline and patience. It connects us to our planet, which so badly needs our protection," Guterres said.

He added that yoga reveals "our common humanity, helping us to understand that despite our differences, we are one. On this International Day of Yoga, let us embrace the spirit of unity and resolve to build a better, more harmonious world for people, planet and ourselves."

The Yoga session will run from 8 to 9 am on June 21 at the expansive North Lawn in the UN Headquarters, where a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, a gift from India to the UN, was installed in December last year during the country's Presidency of the UN Security Council.

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